All 27 member states must ratify the treaty before it comes into effect [AFP]

The approval by the Dutch parliament's upper house comes a month after Ireland threw the EU into turmoil by rejecting the treaty in a referendum on July 12.

The Netherlands is the 21st EU member to approve the treaty.

All 27 member states must ratify it before it comes into effect.

The Lisbon treaty was negotiated after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the European constitution in referendums in 2005.

The Dutch cabinet had decided in September not to submit the new document to the country for a referendum.

Maxime Verhagen, the country's foreign minister, said: "With the Lisbon treaty, the position of national parliaments in Europe are strengthened, while the powers of the EU and its member states are more clearly staked out."

Frans Timmermans, the Europe minister, said the new treaty was "essential to make the European union function more decisively and democratically".

Ireland, the sole European country which decided to hold a public referendum on the issue, rejected the treaty on June 12 with 53.4 per cent of the vote, presenting the EU with a constitutional crisis.

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